Hazro EM31222 3-Axis Stand
Simon Baker, 14 September 2012

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Above: Hazro EM31222 3-Axis Adjustable Stand

 

 

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Introduction

We’ve tested various monitors from UK based manufacturer Hazro over the years. Now they have decided to venture into the monitor stand market with the release of their new EM31222 3-axis adjustable stand. The stand offers tilt, height, rotation and swivel adjustments and was designed by Hazro as a superior alternative to cheaper plastic models. Build quality, sturdiness and materials are a focus here and anodized aluminium is used throughout offering a lightweight stand, capable of handling monitors and televisions up to 30" in size or 15kg in weight. We will have a look at the stand, how it comes packaged and what is needed to put it al together. We will also test its practical uses and analyse the design and features in this review.
 

Note: Please click photographs in this review for full size versions
 


Specifications and Features

Features of the stand include:

  • Satisfies UL 1678 Tip Test

  • VESA 100 x 100 and 75 x 75 compatible

  • Load Range: 0 - 15kg (2 - 33 lbs)

  • Maximum Size of Display: 30"

  • Elevation Range: 388mm without monitor

  • Rotation: 90° single direction (portrait or landscape mode)

  • Swivel: 60° (bi-direction)

  • Tilt: 105°

  • Material: Anodized aluminium

  • Carton Dimensions: 21" x 10.6" x 4.6" (536 x 269 x 116 mm)

  • Carton Weight: 6 lbs (3 kg)

  • Warranty: Three (3) years

  • Retail Part Number: EM31222 (Hazro: HZST02)

  • EAN: 0610373926533 (UPC: 610373926533)



Parts and Construction

The stand comes packages in a box measuring 536 x 269 x 116 mm and is reasonably light at 3Kg. There is a carry handle for easy transport.

 

 

Once you open the box the parts for the stand are in several pieces and it is the users responsibility to put it together, following the pretty simple provided instructions.

 

 

A small bag is provided with screws, washers and a couple of parts you need for the stand when putting it together. The relevant Allen key (M3 wrench as they call it in the instructions) is also provided.

 

 

The base is the largest part of the stand measuring 329 x 259 mm in size and being ~5.5mm thick. This is a matte black anodized aluminium and looks pretty sleek. Some of the marketing images on Hazro's website make it look as if the base is glossy, but in fact it's not at all. There is no writing on the base and only 4 screw holes as shown above which would allow you to connect and fasten the arm itself. The 4 hex screws needed are provided of course. On the bottom of this base are 4 circular indents where you can stick on the supplier rubber feet, to provide some cushion on your desk and avoid slippage.


 


 

  

 

The arm then comes packaged separately and measures ~520 mm length. It is about 37mm wide as well so is fairly thin. At the bottom end is a rounded section which would screw into the base using the four provided screws. This again is a matte black anodized aluminium and feels strong and sturdy.

 

 

The arm has a small grey coloured ‘Hazro’ logo on it as you can see from the photos. The arm has an indentation along the two sides of the pole which comes into play when using the side to side swivel function which we will talk about later.

 

 

A box is provided with the main monitor bracket enclosed, along with 4 thumb screws for connecting it to the back of your monitor.

 

 

Connection of the monitor arm into the base was a little fiddly as getting the screws lined up with the holes in the bottom of the arm was a bit tricky. They tightened into place easily enough and provided a secure connection between base and arm.

 

 

Next step is to slide the quick-release plastic cable tidy clip onto the arm. This serves two purposes. Firstly you can use the clip to keep the cables tied nicely out the way and hidden as much as possible behind the thin arm. Secondly it can be tightened and locked into place using the quick release catch which is shown above. This then acts as the height adjustment for the screen, with the monitor bracket not being able to move lower than this is tightened. This bracket is the only plastic part of the main stand.

 

 

A small metal ‘swivel lock ring’ disc is then placed on top of that quick-release cable tidy section as shown on the left hand photo above. It has two teeth on it, one on each side. These will mean that once the screen is sat on top of the cable tidy section, it cannot be swivelled too far side to side.

 

 

The monitor bracket itself must be attached to the back of your screen first. This is easily achieved using the provided 4x thumb screws, with no need for a tool or Allen key. Here we have attached the bracket to the back of a Dell U2713HM 27” monitor (VESA 100mm). This weighs 5.6Kg incidentally so should be well within the capabilities of the stand.

 

 

Once connected to the back of the screen you slide the bracket onto the arm. It will then stop at the cable tidy which is tightened and fastened at your chosen height. You will see from the first image above that the swivel lock ring stops the monitor bracket from turning too far side to side.

 

 
Above: the completed stand

 


Above: various marketing images provided by Hazro

 

 

 
Adjustments

 

In terms of ergonomic adjustments we tested each feature to establish how easy they were to use, what range of adjustment they offered and how useable they are ultimately for moving your monitor around.

 

 

The tilt range offered is massive and the manufacturer specifies a 105° range. The screen can tilt a long way downwards as shown above, which is probably mostly unnecessary for a normal user. It can thankfully also tilt a pretty reasonable way backwards as shown, and so should offer a decent range of adjustment for any angle of view.

 

The one issue with the tilt function is that it must be manually tightened using the Allen key and a small screw on the side of the monitor bracket (as circled in red on the right hand photo). Every time you move the tilt angle you must then re-tighten this screw to hold it in place, otherwise the screen sags downwards. It was fine obtaining a tightness which would hold the U2713HM in place, although I’m not sure whether it would have trouble with really heavy screens or not as really this is quite a light monitor (5.6Kg). While it is possible to avoid the sag of the screen and tighten it to a satisfactory level, it does create an issue with flexibility for the user as it’s quite fiddly then to re-position the screen each time, especially if you have the need to move the tilt regularly. Smoothness of the movement was good, but its ease obviously depends on how tightly you’ve done up the fastening screw.

 

 

The height adjustment offers a massive range of adjustment as well, with 388 mm of movement possible. It will be possible to bring the height of any screen down so that it is touching the top of the base, and therefore only being ~5.5mm from the top of the desk as shown above. How low the bracket needs to move down the stand at the back depends obviously on the dimensions of the screen and the location of the VESA mounting holes on its back. It was good to see a full adjustment range possible though down to a minimum setting like this. The only problem of course with moving the screen all the way down to a minimum height was that the arm could then be seen above the top of the monitor as shown above, even on a screen as big as this 27” U2713HM.

 

 

At the top of the 388mm adjustment the screen is then very high above the level of the desk as you can see above. The height of the screen above the desk again depends on the dimensions of the screen being used but I’m sure this should provide enough height adjustment for any user. Even at the highest setting the arm remained very stable which was great news.

 

Again there is an issue however with the height adjustment. It’s actually quite hard to move the height up and down on the arm and you really need to get access to the bracket and force it up or down with two hands. You also need to be trying to unfasten and slide the cable tidy clip to allow you to move it up or down more, and so all in all its quite tricky to do. The weight that the screen puts on the bracket means it doesn’t slide smoothly up or down and it is pretty difficult to manoeuvre. The cable tidy clip does a good job of fastening the screen at a certain height though thankfully. Again you wouldn’t want to be trying to change the height very often or it could become difficult.

 

 

The side to side pivot adjustment is thankfully easy to use and offers smooth adjustments. It is limited by the small swivel lock ring and the maximum range it allows is shown above which isn't that far.

 

 

You can of course remove that ring if you want, although there is then the risk that if you swivel the screen too far, the whole thing could topple over and probably damage the screen and stand. Maximum swivel adjustment is again shown in the photo above, from behind.

 

      


 

The rotation function is very easy to use. The screen can be simply and smoothly rotated 360° if you want in a full circle. There is no ‘locking’ of the screen at certain orientations so you need to level it yourself, which is easy enough to do by eye. You can rotate the screen round as far as you want as shown above. 

 

A summary of the stands ergonomic adjustments is shown below:

 

Function

Range

Smoothness

Ease of Use

Tilt

105°

Smooth

Difficult to adjust, tightening of screw needed to avoid screen sag. Not flexible for regular adjustment

Height

388mm

Very Stiff

Difficult to move due to weight of screen, need access to the bracket and two hands. Not practical for regular adjustments

Swivel

6 total

Smooth

Easy although not massive range

Rotate

360°

Smooth

Easy to use and great range

 


Conclusion

The ergonomic adjustments left us with mixed views to be honest. In my opinion the two most useful features of any stand are the tilt and height adjustment, likely to be most used and most altered by your average user. The tilt and height here did offer a massive range of adjustment and so it was very easy to get a comfortable position and angle for a wide variety of conditions and uses. Range was good, although practicality was not in my opinion. The tilt needed to be fastened tightly using the hex key and fastening screw and this was particularly important with heavier screens. This means it is not really very useable as an adjustment day to day as you have to keep loosening and tightening that screw and making sure the screen is tight enough so as not to sag. It's fine to get a comfortable position and angle, you just don't really want to be moving it around much after that. Again the height range was massive and should be more than adequate for most users. The screen was very sturdy, even at the maximum height and the stand was clearly strong and stable. However again, practically it was not the best. It was quite hard to re-position the screen, and the mechanism and movement using the cable tidy clip made it hard work. Like the tilt, it's easy to get a good height and position but you wouldn't want to be trying to move it up and down much day to day.

The other adjustments of swivel and rotation were much easier to use thankfully. The side to side swivel was smooth and easy although didn't offer a massive range. Rotation was easy and could be turned all the way around if you really wanted to. The stand did seem better equipped to handle swivel and rotate than it did for tilt and height.

The appearance of the stand was very nice and the anodized aluminium design was attractive. Materials were of a very high quality and the stand seemed very strong and sturdy which is of course a necessity for a decent stand. The stand retails for ~Ł80 GBP at the moment in the UK. It's certainly a high quality product with expensive and strong materials being used. If you aren't going to need to change your tilt or height position much then it provides a decent option as a widely adjustable and versatile stand. If you need to reposition the monitor a lot for different viewing angles then the inflexibility of those features may prove a little frustrating.

 

Pros

Cons

High quality materials and aluminium design

Tilt range is very good, but impractical for regular adjustments due to tightening screw mechanism

Sturdy and strong

Height range excellent but impractical to move regularly due to difficult movement

Swivel and rotate easy to use

Swivel range perhaps a little limited

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